Life Without a Smartphone

I don’t own a smartphone. Never have. My friends and family don’t understand. They call me a luddite, a troglodyte, a technophobe. I don’t care. I’ve no desire to become captive. People ask me, “Don’t you feel excluded from modern day living?” Yes, I answer. And it’s wonderful. I’m not addicted to a device. I don’t spend hours swiping, ogling, scrolling, tapping.

You can discover anything at any time, people say. You can find directions, get restaurant reviews, check Instagram, listen to any song. A friend used his iPhone to take photos after a car accident. He later confessed the accident occurred while he was looking at his phone. I witnessed a young woman staring at her phone while crossing the street. She was nearly struck by a car but seemed more upset by her dropped phone than the fact she nearly died.
I’m not against technology. I love my laptop, appreciate online banking, reliant on Zoom. But I’m repelled by smartphones. Everywhere I look I see zombies staring at their phones while eating, driving, shopping, walking. I saw a commercial for a waterproof smartphone that can be used in the shower. Who needs a phone while showering?

I own a five-year-old Nokia flip phone. I can send texts by navigating the number buttons but it’s such a pain I don’t bother. If I need to contact someone, I call them. Or I send emails. When someone asks me to text them, I tell them I don’t text. The look of confusion on their face is always funny.

There are times when not having a smartphone is a problem. I couldn’t try a new Singapore noodle house because they only accepted smartphone payments. Air travel without a smartphone means you have to wait in airport lines for a printed boarding bass. Checking medical test results without a smartphone can be difficult.

Smartphones drain you of time, energy, privacy and cognitive acuity. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there’s less time in the day to do the things I want. If I owned a smartphone I’m certain I’d waste hours scrolling through photos or reading click bait. This means less time to do the things I love like hiking, spending time with friends, making art, reading and writing.

It’s common knowledge that smartphones can track your location and listen to your conversations. It’s not that I have something to hide (we all do to some extent), it’s that I resent advertisers and corporations monitoring my browsing habits and gathering information on me. It’s nobody’s business what I do online.

I’m also cognizant of spyware with malicious ends. According to Security Magazine, half of all smartphones in the US are exposed to mobile phishing attacks every three months. In 2022, there were 800,000 successful cyber attacks on smartphones in the US. This equates to 2200 per day. In 2023, US ransomware attacks led to losses surpassing $1 billion.

I’ve known several people who’ve had their smartphones hacked. Each attack involved theft of funds from their bank account or credit card. One attack resulted in identify theft. The victims were able to get financial restitution but it took countless hours of phone calls, emails and bank visits. In two cases, victims hired lawyers to handle their situations. The legal fees were never refunded.

Who needs this?

Smartphones have health implications. Smartphone vision syndrome is a condition caused by prolonged usage. Symptoms include blurred vision, headaches, neck and shoulder pain and permanent vision loss. People with this condition see floaters and develop sensitivity to bright light.

Cell phones also give off energy known as radio frequency (RF) waves. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies RF radiation as a “possible human carcinogen.” According to the CDC, the number of US cancer cases rose 21 percent between 2000 and 2021. The CDC concluded: “At this time we do not have the science to link health problems to cell phone use. Studies are underway to determine whether cell phone use may cause negative health effects.” The problem in making a smartphone/cancer link is that science can’t prove a negative. Cancer rates are rising but it’s impossible to connect this directly to smartphone usage. But it can’t be ruled out either.

The first iPhone was introduced in 2007. A year later, a new word entered our lexicon. Nomophobia. This is the fear of being without a mobile device. Taking away someone’s phone is like removing a limb. People who are unable to use their smartphones experience anxiety, agitation and disorientation. Take away someone’s phone and you hamper his ability to process the world.

Smartphones reduce in-person connections between people. It’s disheartening to see couples staring at their phone more than they stare at each other. According to the face down theory, our real life encounters pale in comparison to what we imagine might be happening on our phone. We choose digital illusion over analog reality.

I spent my 20s capturing my life on video. I carried a Sony camcorder wherever I went and processed the world through a viewfinder. I taped parties, private conversations, family events. I documented everything but interacted with nothing. If someone asked me about an incident in my life, I had to consult the video to see what happened.

I used my camera like an invisibility cloak. I blended into crowds without interacting with anyone. I became voyeuristic and asocial. Without my camera, I felt naked and vulnerable. If I didn’t record something it’s as if it never happened. The end result was isolation and depression. It took years of therapy to unpack my video addiction and discern the damage it caused. I believe smartphones have the same effect. They place a filter between yourself and the real world.

There’s a movement called Digital Minimalism. The idea is to reduce (if not eliminate) one’s digital interaction with the world. Many celebrities have stopped using smartphones. Actor Michael Cera ditched his because it made him feel like he was “losing control of his waking life.” Musician Ed Sheeran switched to a flip phone in 2017 because his smartphone “put him in a very low place.” Actor Chris Pine dumped his iPhone in 2022 because he “could tell you everything about Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian but not a fucking thing about literature.”

Smartphones breed narcissism. It’s fun to take selfies and show the world every waking moment of your life. But this can lead to egotism and make it harder to live in the moment. In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. He grew so obsessed with himself that he stopped eating and sleeping. He ultimately died alone consumed by an image of himself he could never have.